20140911

9/11 in NY

Today I was up in New York on regular business—reading group and my lab's group meeting. When I arrived at Columbia, the main walk was covered in hundreds if not thousands of small American flags, and I remembered the date. Throughout the day, it got lots of attention: people took pictures and there was even a pro-Palestine rally of some kind.

I was safely in California thirteen years ago, but I still remember waking up to the news and sitting on my parent's bed watching the smoke. When a peer said that there was another attack at the Pentagon, I thought he was just trying to get attention. So I was a little solemn today, as it made things a little more real, knowing that some percentage of the people around me had lived through the event in the city.

But then I witnessed something bizarre during the afternoon: a young woman plucking a handful of flags and then tossing them in the garbage with apparent distain. I didn't know what to make of it. Was she anti-American? Was she an American citizen? Was her family or her home country harmed by the US? Was she somehow against the display of flags? Did she lose family in 9/11 and was frustrated by the reminder? It remains a mystery.